


Dulce et Decorum

by TheShadierTwin



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comfort, Dreams, Gen, Loneliness, Spoilers ep 58 (the adventure zone), Spoilers ep 90 (critical role)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 00:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10348440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheShadierTwin/pseuds/TheShadierTwin
Summary: A champion is expected to lead and inspire a good soldier, is he not?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, this is garbage fic, but no one else was writing it. Dedicated to all the times Liam O'Brien has made me want someone to wrap Vax in a soft blanket, to all the accents Griffin McElroy has gifted Kravitz with, and to the ultimate competent woman, the Raven Queen.

The dark water - it wasn't water at all, too oily and somehow sharp, like shards of crystal or obsidian glass, but it threatened to drown him like water would, so - the water lapped on the edge of the rock island that Kravitz had found refuge on, but silently. There was no light. No stars or torches, and even the ever present, comforting glow of the threads of fate were gone from the corner of Kravitz's vision, where they had always been since the day he had accepted the Raven Queen's offer and entered her service. He was, for the first time in his entire existence, completely and utterly alone.

* * *

The whispered voice of the Raven Queen had become familiar, by now; Vax'ildan recognized it as soon as he fell asleep in Keylith's arms, still giddy with the joy of her coronation. The urgency was less familiar. He wondered if she was calling him to leave his family, if his respite had ended, but he did not ask.

"My Champion," she said, softly as ever, like the last sigh. There was a deeper sorrow in her voice than usual. Vax waited, wary as always, and did not speak. "The threads of fate are not native to one plane only. Some places are easily visited. Your thread leads you to one such plane very soon." As she spoke, Vax could see countless shining threads pass through her hands. Some of them were solitary, but most were twisted with others to form patterns, knots, and strong cords. "There are other barriers that are not so lightly breached. In the waking world, what I ask of you now would be impossible, my Champion. Even as you sleep, it almost cannot be done. You must be willing."

She held up a single thread between her fingers. It glowed in a way that, Vax somehow knew, meant that the life it represented was favoured by his patron, and yet it was fading, and Vax again knew that the individual whose thread he beheld was giving up - hope or life or faith, he didn't know. But he knew that he was willing, and so he nodded, and the world fell away.

* * *

Kravitz didn't think it was safe to sleep with this dark water around him. He didn't trust it not to rise and drown him - and without the Raven Queen's presence surrounding him, he didn't know what would happen if he drowned - and yet, he felt himself falling asleep against his own will.

And suddenly, there was someone else with him.

"Uh, hi."

The half-elf was wearing a cloak of black feathers, with a raven's skull clasp on his breast and two blue feathers in his hair. There was something about him that Kravitz was drawn to, something that made him pay attention, even if he hadn't felt a familiar cold touch aura to him. He also left Kravitz with the impression that he didn't know what the fuck he was doing there - sort of interesting, how he managed both at once.

"Am I dreaming?" Kravitz asked.

"I think so," the half-elf said, uncertainly. "At least, I am. I'm Vax'ildan, by the way. Vax." Kravitz introduced himself in return. "The Raven Queen sent me."

"Good, that's good," Kravitz said. Of course nothing had happened to her, nothing _could_ have happened to her. She was a god, and while the dark water had cut him off from her and Taako and everything else he ever knew, at least he knew that she was still out there, carrying souls on - but it was good to have confirmation. "Did she give you a message for me? Or are you supposed to tell her where to find me?"

"I- I don't think so. No," Vax said, more certain.

"Then... Am I- Are you supposed to bring me to her?" Kravitz asked. He wasn't quite able to make himself ask,  _Have I died, am I finished, will I never see Taako again?_

"No!" said Vax, certain from the start this time. "No, your thread isn't finished. Your fate keeps going from here for a while longer." He looked out into the darkness around them both. "Wherever _here_ is. And - I didn't recognize it at the time, but there's another thread yours is tied to, and that one keeps going as well. And your thread, and that other thread, and the other threads that one is tied to? They're still passing through her hand, and she won't drop you. Do you understand?"

"No," said Kravitz, dryly. "And neither do you."

The returning grin was just as dry. "Alright, so you've caught me. I'm new at this whole thing. But you're not alone, Kravitz, even if she can't reach you for now. She sent me here for you, even if it's only in dreams. She's still got you, alright?"

Kravitz nodded, serious despite himself. Of course she still had him, of  _course_. She wouldn't abandon him, that wasn't her way. And nothing could keep him out of her hands forever. Of all the gods he could have followed, she was the only one for whom this was absolutely true.

Something in the darkness moved, and they both tried and failed to see what it was. "You shouldn't stay," Kravitz said, and when he glanced over, the half-elf was gone.

* * *

The dawning sun was soft through the windows when Vax opened his eyes.  He didn't have any proof that anything had happened - the feeling in his chest was no different than it had been the day before, and he felt rested, not like he'd gone on a journey - and yet, he knew that he'd been to that other place surrounded by dark water, that he'd met a man named Kravitz, and that the Raven Queen had asked it of him.

He looked across Keylith's still sleeping form towards the window, and a black bird with intelligent eyes looked in at him and then flew away.

In the beating of its wings, he heard a voice - not the voice of the Raven Queen, but Kravitz, and his message was simple.  _Thank you._ Vax sighed, smiled, and rose to greet the day.

 


End file.
